Collapsible egg carton



May 2 Filed D R. SANDELL GOLLAPSIBLE EGG CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 (EW QXMay 27, 1941. R SANDELL 2,243,223

' COLLAPSIBLE EGGOARTON Filed Dec. 15. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedMay 27, 1941 air n Application December 15, 1938, Serial No. 245,979 inSweden May 12, 1938 4 Glairns.

In order, when paclL'ng eggs, to obtain a soft and cushioning supportfor the eggs, many different means have been proposed. A common featurefor several of them is that the eggs are placed in V-shaped troughs,which by means of transverse members or other means have been dividedinto cells, as a rule one for each egg. In some case the egg-holder madein this way has been made inte ral with the outer shell of the cartonwhereas in other cases the egg-holder: and the outer shell have beenmade separately so that the former has been placed loose in Le latter.In the one case a special machine is required for fixing the carton inposition .1 the consumers shop (the carton being delivered by themanufacturer in a collapsed condition), whereas in the other case themanufacture of the carton in the carton factorybecom'es very tedius andexpensive, much manual work being required.

According to still another arrangement, the eggs are packed in a'carton'in which the e gholder has been formed in such a way that a number oftransverse partition walls have been secured to one side wall of theshell, said partition walls, when the carton is to be erected in theconsurners shop, being swung outwards, whereas one part of the shell,which is -cornposed of three sections provided with cuts, is bent overso that a perpendicular wall is obtained dividing the carton into twocompartments, in the outermost of which there is a diagonally runningintermediate bottom and in the inner a flap that with 'its lower freeend abuts against the bottom of the carton. In this arrangement theintermediate bottom 'in' the outer and the flap in the innercompartment, respectively, are supposed to serve as cushioning supportsfor the eggs, but in practice this object is not achieved. Unlessspecial cutshave been provided in the intermediate bottoms in the outercompartment, the eggs will rest on the intermediate bottoms (sincecardbcard'is'not "capable of elongation), and if the space is to belarge enough for an egg of normal size, the total height of the cartonmust be very great.

While in the outer compartment th eggs will thus be lying at a greatdistance from the bottom, the reverse will be the case in theinnercompartment, as the flaps naturally due to the weight of the eggs willbe bent close along the partition wall with the result that the eggswill be resting directly on the bottom, thus pressing down the latter.

Another important drawback of the'last mentioned contruction is that theerection of a carton of this type in the consumers shop is difficult andtedious, asthe transverse cell-forming partition walls (except thosenearest to the ends of the cartons) are loose at one end.

The presentinvention, which refers to an arrangement of such collapsiblecartons made from cardboard or similar material, that when ready for usehave two series of intercrossing partition walls forming two parallelrows of cells enclosed by a shell, has for its object to eliminate allthe above drawbacks, and the invention is characterized, firstly therebythat one of the vertical edges of each of the walls forming one seriesof partition walls is secured to one side of the shell, whereas theopposite vertical edges of said partition walls are secured to or madein one piece with another wall that is parallel with the above mentionedside ofthe cover but independent of the shell, secondly thereby that theopposite side of the cover is secured to or made in one piece with asheet consisting of four seat-forming-sections, with cuts correspondingto the first series of partition walls, forming the second series ofpartition walls and being arranged to be introduced in the form of a Win the single row of cells formed by the first series of partitionwalls, so that two rows of V-formed compartments are formed, in whichthe first mentioned series of partition wall-s intersect cuts in thesecond series of partition walls. The erection of the carton in theconsumers shop hereby becomes very simple and the carton offers verygood cushioning protection for the eggs, at the sametime being easy tomanufacture in an entirely automatic machine.

Thanks to the fact that all the transverse partition walls in the firstseries are at both their vertical edges interconnected so that all suchwalls are moved when one is moved, the erection in the shop of theconsumer is very much simplifled in that it is only necessary to holdone partition wall (and preferably one of those located nearest to theends) in position to make all the others automatically assumethe sameposition. This may even be still further simplified by providing one ofthe partition walls nearest to either end with a hole or a cut throughwhich the first finger of one hand may be introduced. For manufacturingreasons the shell and the series of transverse partition walls should bemade from different rolls of material in such a way that the directionof fiber in both shell and the transverse partition wall runs'in thetransverse direction of, the carton.

The invention is illustrated by way of example on the accompanyingdrawings. Fig. 1 shows a plan view of a sheet of card-board for a shellintended for 12 eggs together with its seat-forming extension, saidblank being divided by 8 scoring lines into 9 sections. Fig. 2 is asection along the line IIII in Figs. 1 and 3. Figs. 3 and 4 are sectionsalong the line III-III in Fig. 1, showing two different positions of thetransverse partition walls. Figs. 5 and 6 show in the same way as Fig. 3two other ways of arranging the transverse partition walls in cartonsfor and 6 eggs respectively. Fig. 7 shows still another way of arrangingthe transverse partition wall. Fig. 8 is a section along the lineVIII-VIII in Fig. 3, and Fig. 9 shows an end view of Fig. 3. Fig. 10shows on a larger scale a cross-section through the erected carton.

The sheet shown in Fig. 1 is divided by the 8 scoring lines l-8 intonine sections 9|'|. The section 9 forms a locking flap on the topsection It). Sections l I and I3 form the sides of the carton andsection 12 its bottom. Sections l4-l1 are intended, after bending to aW, to serve as seat walls for eggs. A number of transverse partitionwalls [8 are pivotally secured to the section II along one of theirvertical edges. The opposite vertical edges of the walls l8 arepivotally secured to a sheet l9 that is parallel to the section II. cuts28 intended to form yielding supporting flaps for the eggs. Each ofthese cuts are at the ends and the middle intersected at right angles byshorter cuts 2|. Between the cuts 20 there are longitudinal cuts 22extending through two adjacent sections l4, l5 and l6, l1 respectively.The two outermost partition walls l8 have the appearance shown in Fig.9, whereas the interior partition walls l8 are provided with cuts 23, 24and 25, intended to guide and center the cell-forming sections orpartition walls l4-l1 when these are to be introduced into the pigeonholes formed by the transverse partition walls l8.

The interior part I8--l 9 shown in Fig. 3 is made from longitudinalstrips of three rolls of cardboard. During the manufacture the stripsrun one above the other and are not folded until this stage, whereuponthey are allowed to pass over glueing discs in order to receive stripesof glue on the requisite places for the purpose of being inter-secured.Thereafter the interior part is glued to section II as shown in Fig. 2.For the purpose of locking the carton, one or more of the transversepartition walls 3 may be provided with a cut in which a correspondingflap in the section 9 is introduced.

The erection of the carton from the plane position shown in Fig. 1 tothe position necessary for introducing the eggs is effected in thefollowing manner. At first the interior part iB-IS is swung out to aposition at right angle to section II. Thereafter the extension of theshell is folded along the scoring line 3 against the bottom section I 2,and the side section 13 is bent up whereafter sections l4-l1 forming thelongitudinal cell-forming partition walls are introduced in the interiorpart in such a way that the transverse partition walls l8 intersect thecuts 22, the partition walls [4-H then forming a W, and these partitionwalls rest against the cuts 23, 24 and 25 in the transverse partitionwalls l8, at the points 26, 21, 28 and 29. When the eggs are insertedthe cell-forming partition walls l4-l'l are curved somewhat so that theflaps 39 formed by the cuts 202l are forced In the sections I4-l1 thereare longitudinal somewhat outwards so that the eggs obtain a good and atthe same time to a certain extent cushioning support, automaticallyadjusted to the size of each egg.

The interior part forming the transverse partition walls 68 may, asshown by Figs. 5-7, be made in a number of different ways. What isessential is, however, that these Walls are not pivotally secured to theside section II along one of their vertical edges but also that they areintersecured at the opposite vertical edge so that swinging out one ofthe transverse partition walls automatically means swinging out all theothers. In order to simplify the erection and handling of the cartonwhile it is being erected, one 01 both of the extreme partition wallsmay be provided with a finger hole 3|.

Having now particularly described the nature of my invention and themanner of its operation what I claim is:

l. A collapsible carton for eggs, comprising in combination; a sheet offoldable material having substantially parallel fold lines defining top,rear, bottom and front panels for said carton; and a collapsiblecompartment assembly of like material secured to said rear panel andincluding opposed end wall members for said carton and a front wallmember for said assembly, said assembly including a plurality oftransverse substantially parallel partition members each pivotallyconnected to the front wall of said compartment assembly and to the rearpanel of said carton to form a series of elongated cells in saidassembly in its erected position, said sheet having an extensionintegral with said front panel and longitudinal of said sheet in itscollapsed position, fold lines in said extension substantially parallelwith said first mentioned fold lines, said last mentioned fold linesbeing spaced to define a plurality of foldable and bowable sections.each of said sections containing a series of longitudinal closed slotstransversely spaced to register with said partition members in theirerected position, said sections being adapted to be folded and bowedinto said assembly so that said slots will engage said partitions in amanner whereby the entire effective volume of said carton will bedivided into a plurality of egg-supporting connected cradles havingsides of approximately eoual length and having their upper portions lyinin substantially the same plane, all of said cradles extending to anapproximately equal denth into said cells.

2. The combination of claim 1 that includes locking means for saidcarton, said locking means including an extension of said top panelproviding a flap portion adapted to be inserted behind the upper outeredge of said carton, said flap portion being provided with notchespositioned to engage said partition members whereby said top panel maybe held in a position closing said carton.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein one of said end walls isapertured' to provide a finger grip for holding said assembly in itserected position to expedite its engagement with said sections, whilesaid carton is being erected.

4. A collapsible carton for eggs, comprising in combination; a sheet offoldable material having substantially parallel fold lines defining top,rear, bottom and front panels for said carton; and a collapsiblecompartment assembly of like material secured to said rear panel andincluding opposed end wall members for said carton and a front wallmember for said assembly, said assembly including a plurality oftransverse subtions, each of said sections containing a series,

of longitudinal closed slots transversely spaced to register with saidpartition members in their erected position, said sections being adaptedto fbe folded and bowed into said assembly so that said slots willengage said partitions in a manner whereby the entire effective volumeof said carton will be divided into a plurality of longif'tudinal rowsof egg-supporting connected cradles, each row having sides ofsubstantially equal length and. having their upper portions lying in 10"substantially the same plane, all of the cradles fin each of said rowsextending to substantially an equal depth into said cells.

RUDOLF SANDELL.

